System Tweaks - Windows 2000/XP (Part 2)

Graphics Tweaks

The following graphics tweaks help to improve graphics performance.

Disable VSYNC For Frame Rate & Benchmark Boost

If you are looking to boost your frame rate in 3D games or benchmark programs and not concerned about image quality loss, try disabling the VSYNC or “wait for vertical synchronization” setting. This setting is found in your video card’s direct 3D and OpenGL settings. When enabled, this setting basically forces the video card to conform and display frames according to the frame rate of the monitor. It has to wait until an entire image frame has been displayed before displaying the next frame. Many newer video cards may be able to render frames considerably faster than the forced cap VSYNIC puts on FPS production. Note, however, that although disabling this feature may not produce any visual quality difference in some games, in other games your card may render images horribly. Either way, if disabling VSYNC produces desirable results, there is no reason not to leave it that way.

On ATi cards:
In the “Advanced” display settings, go to the “3D” tab and check “use custom settings” for both direct3D and OpenGL. Click the “Custom” button to access the controls for both modes. Turn the “wait for vertical sync” slider all the way to the left.

On nVidia cards:
In the “Advanced” display settings, go to the tab that identifies your video card model. The VSYNC settings are located in “more direct3D settings” and “OpenGL settings”. Disable the appropriate one.

Visual Effects

Both Windows 2000 and XP have all sorts of fade and other fancy effects turned on as default. All right, so they look pretty, however, they can really bog down systems.

Under XP, in the Control Panel, go to System >“Advanced” tab and under “Performance”, click “Settings”. The two I suggest to uncheck here are “Fade or slide menus into view” and “Fade menu items after clicking”. You can turn off and on any effects you want in order to find a good balance between visual effects and performance Hit Apply and OK after you’re done.

In 2000, Right click on the desktop, click “Properties” and go to the “Effects” tab.

Boot & Shutdown Speed Tweaks

These tweaks address some of the larger causes of slow Windows boot up and shutdown times.

Disable the “nVidia Driver Helper” Service

This relatively new feature has been included with some of the more recent Detonator driver packages. What does it do? That’s where it gets hazy. There is no solid definition of what it is or what it does, and it is even left off of nVidia’s web site. The only thing that is definite about it is that can slow down boot and shutdown times considerably.

Here’s how to disable it. Go to Start > Run and type services.msc. Set the startup value of the “nVidia Driver Helper” service to “Manual” or “Disabled”.

Slow Boot Caused By Networking

If you are experiencing a long pause after getting to the desktop before you can really do anything, a network feature is probably the culprit.

In XP, go to Control Panel > Networking Connections. In 2000, go to Control Panel > Networking and Dial-up Connections. Right click on your Internet connection and click “Properties”. Uncheck “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Network” and hit apply and OK. Windows 2000 machines will need to reboot before continuing. Go back into “Properties” and re-check the box, hit apply and OK and reboot if needed. Hopefully, you will notice a boost in speed after booting to your desktop.

Turn Off Terminal Services

If you are experiencing slow shutdowns, one tweak you can try is turning off Ternimal Services. If you do not use remote desktop, fast user switching, remote assistance or the terminal server, then proceed with this tweak.

Go to Start > Run and type services.msc /s. Find “Terminal Services” on the list and double click on it (If it’s not there, it isn’t installed). Change startup type to “disabled” or “manual” and click OK.

Networking Tweaks

These following tweaks will give you a speed boost over LAN and net connections without resorting to a change of ISPs.

Alleviate CPU Workload Taken Up By The NIC

If your network adapter has an onboard processor, enabling it alleviates some of the network processing workload from the system’s CPU. This option is disabled by default. Note that this tweak should not be attempted if you are on a dial-up connection. It only pertains to ethernet cards and may have adverse effects (and if there are any, it usually results speed loss) on the dial-up connection.

In regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Tcpip/Parameters , and create/modify the DWORD value “DisableTaskOffload” to 0. 1 Disables the NIC processor.

Disable Internet Connection Sharing

If you don’t use Windows’ Internet Connection Sharing service, it can be turned off. This will have no effect on computers running on a LAN off of one Internet connection, as long as the feature has not been configured for use. It is most often the case that it is not used.

To turn it off, go to Start > Run and type services.msc. In XP, set the startup type to “Manual” or “Disabled” for “Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)”. For 2000, it is the “Internet Connection Sharing” service.

DNS Caching

When you surf the web, Windows stores recently visited addresses in a DNS cache. The cache is accessed before a request is sent out over the net when a web page address is requested. If the address is found in the DNS cache, it saves time by eliminating the need to request and IP address from a DNS server over the net.

There is a stack of IP addresses in the DNS cache that constantly gets bumped down as IP requests are made. Sort of like a waiting list. This tweak will increase the size of the DNS cache, thus greatly increasing the speed at which web pages are accessed, especially if you regularly check certain web pages.

You can either apply this tweak using a downloadable registry file, or apply it manually with the following instructions:

Open up regedit and go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Dnscache/Parametersand create/modify these DWORD values: “CacheHashTableBucketSize” set with the value of 1; “CacheHashTableSize” set with the value of 180; “MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit” set with the value of ff00; and “MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit” set with the value of 12d.

The second part of DNS caching involves the caching of unsuccessful results. Namely, a valid URL that is temporary offline or cannot be accessed for some reason. As long as that entry remains in the cache and even if the URL goes live again, because Windows refers to the DNS cache first, it will only see the unsuccessful connection and continue to refer to it until it is bumped from the cache. Sounds bad, but there is a way to avoid this with a registry fix that prevents unsuccessful DNS lookups from being cached.

Open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Dnscache/Parameters. Create/modify the following DWORD values: “NegativeCacheTime” set with the value of 0; “NetFailureCacheTime” set with the value of 0; and “NegativeSOACacheTime” set with the value of 0. Close regedit and reboot.

Increase Max Number of Simultaneous Connections in IE

IE6 only offers two simultaneous server connections by default, although it may be fine for normal use with low traffic demands, traffic can get bogged down when connecting to web pages with a significant amount of graphical content. By increasing the number of possible server connections, your bandwidth can be used more efficiently and load complex web pages faster.

Start out by opening up regedit and going to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Internet Settings. Create/modify two DWORD values: “MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server” set with the value of 0000000a, and “MaxConnectionsPerServer” set with the value of 0000000a. Close regedit and reboot.

You can also use this downloadable registry file to apply this tweak.

Remove the QoS Bandwidth Reserve Setting

QoS, or “Quality of Service” is a provision in Windows XP’s networking connections that allows certain software that has been written to take advantage of QoS to reserve up to 20% of a connection’s bandwidth solely for that program’s use. So, whenever a program is running that has the ability to utilize the QoS provision, it will automatically delegate this 20% to its self and not allow anything else to use it in order to make sure it has priority. Yes, it will allow smooth sailing for this program over a net connection, but it can also hinder any other programs that require bandwidth. Remember, this 20% is reserved whether or not there is actually traffic going over the networking connection. Disabling this option will ensure that everything requesting bandwidth to be put in the “first come, first served” queue.

If you wish to disable QoS, go into Control Panel > Network Connections, right click on your active net connection and select “Properties”. Scroll through the scroll box to locate “QoS Packet Scheduler”. Uncheck the box and click “OK”. It will appear to freeze for a few moments, so be patient. Once the dialog windows closes, QoS will have been disabled. If you should want to enable QoS again, simply go back in and check the box.

Windows Sharing

It’s fairly common nowadays to have more than one computer in the house on LAN so they can each connect to the Internet. It’s also common to share and transfer files between the computers. When you try to access one computer from another, there is often a significant delay while trying to connect. This is because your computer will check the remote computer you are accessing for any scheduled tasks. The more there are on the remote PC, the longer it takes to connect.

To avoid this delay, go into regedit, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace. Delete the {D6277990-4C6A-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} key and reboot. The next time you try to access the shared files on a remote computer, you will probably notice your computer gets there faster.

User Settings & Security

The following tweaks address user accounts and data security.

Become a Power User

Working logged onto Windows as a power user, rather than an administrator, can be safer when it comes to system security. To change your current administrator account into a power user account, go to Start > Run and type lusrmgr.msc. Click on “Groups” and double click on “Administrators”. Make sure there is an administrative user other than your user name that you can use for full administrative privileges.

Select the user account that is going to be a power user and hit “Remove” and OK. Double click “Power Users” on the side panel, click “Add”, and type the account’s name that you just removed from the Administrators group. Click OK, and OK again.

Power users do not always have to log out in order to perform tasks that only an administrative user can. Hold down the shift key and right click on a program’s *.exe file or shortcut. Click “Run As” and select “Run the program as the following user” or “The following user”. Enter the username and password of an administrator user account and hit OK.

Encrypt Files & Folders in XP Pro

This security feature only works on XP Pro with an NTFS file system. What it does is allow only the user that encrypted the folders/files to access them. Right click on a file/folder, and click “Properties”. On the “General” tab, click “Advanced”. Check the “Encrypt contents and secure data” box and click OK. Specify whether or not to encrypt the subfolders (it is recommended that you do). To undo the encryption, just uncheck the Encrypt box.

Get 2000 Security with XP Home

Although XP Home lacks some security features, you don’t have to be totally left out to dry. You have the ability to use the same security features available in Windows 2000, and explained in this sections under Set Folder Permissions in 2000.

First, boot up in safe mode (just hit F8 before getting to the Windows loading screen). You may now follow the instructions in Set Folder Permissions in 2000. Just like with 2000, you can only do this with NTFS drives. Reboot back into normal mode when you have completed setting the permissions. This is the easy way.

There is a way to handle permissions while in normal mode, but it’s a little tricky to handle. Start out by going to Start > Run and type cmd. At the command prompt, type cacls (calc brings up the calculator; you don’t want that). This gives you the ability to add, remove or modify file permissions on files and folders through the command prompt without having to reboot into safe mode. Type cacls /? for help on different options and variables.

Hide a Drive

If you don’t want other users stumbling over a drive while browsing the computer through Explorer, this tweak may help out. Although this tweak will render the drive invisible in Windows Explorer, it will still be accessible through Windows’ search utility, as well as other third-party file managing applications. Microsoft Office applications will also be able to access the cloaked drive with no problem.

To cloak a drive, open up regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer. Create/modify the DWORD value “NoDrives” to match a corresponding drive letter you wish to hide. A: 1; B: 2; C: 4; D: 8; E: 16; F: 32; G: 64; H: 128; I: 256; J: 512; etc. To hide multiple drives, just add the values together and enter the sum as the value for the DWORD value “NoDrives”. To hide all the drives, just enter the value 67108863.

Hiding a XP Computer from Network Neighborhood

If you want to share files from a XP computer, yet want to remove it from showing up in the Network Neighborhood, Run net config server /hidden:yes

Increase Folder Cache

The default setting for WindowsXP is to cache the folder settings for 400 folders. If you notice that your folders keep losing their settings, you may want to increase this number if you have a good number of folders.

In regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/ShellNoRoam and double click on BagMRU. Select “Decimal” and then change the number value to whatever size you want. 2000 seems to be a good place to start, for it should be more than enough for most users. For users with several multiple storage drives; that number should be increased by another thousand or two.

Make Folders Private in XP

You can make any folders private to all other users on the system by right clicking on the folder and going to the “Sharing” tab. Check the “Make this folder private” box and hit OK. Note that this only works on NTFS file systems.

Set Folder Permissions in 2000

There is a neat little feature in 2000, however only applicable on NTFS drives. On and partition/drive/folder, right click and click “Properties” and go to the “Security” tab.

The different users will be listed according to user groups. Administrators on top, Creator, Everyone, SYSTEM, Users, and customized groups are inserted according to closest user group. If you only want a specific user access to a certain folder, turn every body’s permissions off except for the user, administrator and SYSTEM. Depending on how much freedom you want to give the user, you can make the folder read-only by unchecking “Full Control”, “Modify, “Read & Execute” and “Write”. If the user wants to open something, they would have to copy and paste the file to an area where they had permission to open files a.k.a. “Read & Execute”.

So, here’s a rundown on what each entry does: “Full Control” grants total unrestricted access; “Modify” allows users to change files (i.e., edit and save Word documents); “Read & Execute” allows the user to run *.exe files and open files; “List Folder Contents” allows the user to view anything in that folder; “Read” allows the user to see files, but not open or modify them; “Write” allows users to save new files, but not change any existing ones. Note that any change made to a folder will also change all the subfolder permissions. Anything left unchecked in the main folder can be checked in the subfolders, but anything left checked in the main folder cannot be unchecked in the subfolders. Folder hierarchies need to be kept in mind when changing these permissions.

Overall, it’s fairly simple to work with. You just need to keep track of where you are within the file structure.

System Settings

These tweaks deal with various and miscellaneous system settings.

Disable Windows Messenger

To stop Windows Messenger from loading, there is a registry tweak you can try out. If you use MSN Messenger, it can be run without Windows Messenger. If you install MSN Messenger after applying this tweak, the tweak will be reset by the installation and it will need to be done again.

First, if you have it open, close MSN Messenger and make sure it is not open in the system tray. Open up regedit and to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Policies/Microsoft/Messenger/Client. Create/modify these to DWORD values: “PreventRun” set to the value of 1; and “PreventAutoRun” also set to the value of 1.

If you are experiencing a slow down opening OE as a result of the above tweak, try this:

Open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Classes/CLSID. Find the key {FB7199AB-79BF-11d2-8D94-0000F875C541} and under it select the folder IniProcServer32. In the right panel of regedit double-click on the “(Default)” entry at the top and completely delete the value data it contains. Now do the same for the LocalServer32 folder as well.

Freeze Folder Settings

Every time a user logs off, any changed settings are saved. Window locations, window sizes, and taskbar adjustments are all saved at the exit of each windows session. This tweak allows you to set up everything the way you want it, and no matter how you fiddle with the settings, everything will return to the way you set it up upon the next login.

Start out by adjusting everything the way you want it. This will be the freeze point. Next, open up regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer. Create/modify the DWORD value “NoSaveSettings” and set the value equal to 1. You will have to log off and back on again before the settings take effect. After that, no matter what you do, after every new login, the folder and taskbar settings will be returned to the frozen state you set earlier. You can also use this downloadable registry file to apply this tweak.

Put Outlook in the System Tray

If you like to have Microsoft Outlook open all the time and have Office XP installed, you’re in luck. You can remove toolbar icon from the toolbar and send it to the system tray when Outlook is minimized.

First, close Outlook if you have it open. Next, open up regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/MicrosoftOffice10.0/Outlook/Preferences. Create/modify the DWORD value “MinToTray” and set the value equal to 1.

The next time you open Outlook, it will be seen in both the toolbar and the system tray. As soon as it is minimized, it will disappear from the toolbar and only be seen in the system tray. Just double click the icon to restore it.

Reassign Drive Letters

If you want to reassign your drive letters, go to Start > Run and type diskmgmt.msc. In the Disk Management window, all your drives will be listed down at the bottom half of the screen. Right click on a disk and click “Change Drive Letter and Path”. Click “Edit” or “Change” and select an unused letter from the drop down list. Click OK, answer the prompts that come up, and finally hit OK when you are done.

General Windows Annoyances
Have you come across an annoying problem in Windows that just bothers you so much you want to get rid of it? These tweaks tackle some of the more annoying problems with Windows and take care of them.

AIM Related Problems and Tweaks

This isn’t a Windows per say, but there are a few issue that has been complained about a number of times about AIM.

Buddy List Limited to 200 buddies
First, there is a 200-entry limit for the number of users you can have on your buddy list. There is a very simple registry tweak to increase the limitation number. Go to this key in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/America Online/AOL Instant Messenger (TM)/CurrentVersion/Buddy. Double click the MaxBuddies DWORD value. C8 is the default which sets the limit to 200. Set this value reasonable amount.

Saving Away Messages
There are some people who only have the default away message and don’t really care much about it. There are other people that go nuts and have one or multiple sliding lists full of custom away messages. When it comes time to backup files and settings up for a reformat, this can be handy if fall in the second category of people.

Open up regedit and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/America Online/AOL Instant Messenger (TM)/CurrentVersion/Users. Open up the key with your AIM username. Export the IamGoneList key. This is where all your away messages are stored. To restore them after AIM is installed, simply double click on the .reg file and restore the key.

Cut, Copy & Paste Icons on the Toolbar

One of the consistent features between different Windows Operating Systems was the handy cut, copy and paste icons on the toolbar of Windows explorer during file & folder browsing. By default, these icons do not appear.

Double click on “My Computer”, right click up on the toolbar and click “Customize”. A “Customize Toolbar” window should appear and just add/remove icons as you see fit.

Delay When Opening “My Computer”

It is a sure thing that you have sat in front of your monitor more than a few times and waited for “My Computer” to load. There is a simple fix to eliminate the wait time.

Open up “My Computer”, go to Tools > Folder Options and select the “View” tab. Uncheck “Automatically search for network folders and printers” and hit OK. Now try opening up “My Computer”. Notice a difference?

Driver Signing

It’s a pain to be prompted by Windows warning you about “unsigned drivers” whenever you need to install third party drivers for hardware. No, there’s nothing wrong with installing “unsigned drivers”. They merely lack Microsoft’s stamp of approval. The only thing the prompts are good at is slowing down a driver installation. Here’s the simple fix that gets rid of those annoying prompts.

Right click “My Computer” and click “Properties”. Go to the “Hardware” tab and click on “Driver Signing”. Select “Ignore” for the action. You will never be bothered by those pesky prompts again.

Error Reporting

On the occasion that a program, or even the entire Operating System experiences a crash, you are greeted with a prompt to send an error report back to Microsoft. I don’t know about everybody else, but most of the time when I get this, it isn’t usually the Operating System’s fault and I would never bother to send a report.

To turn off this prompting, go to Control Panel > System >“Advanced” tab and click “Error Reporting”. Select “Disable Error Reporting”, but leave “But notify me when a critical error occurs” checked, for it’s sometimes a good idea to see it and it sometimes give a clue as to what happened.